Blogs from North Central Province, Sri Lanka, Asia - page 3

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Asia » Sri Lanka » North Central Province » Polonnaruwa January 24th 2017

24th Jan Well it's rain again and we were travelling on to Polonnaruwa. Apparently you normally see deer, wild elephants and all manner of wildlife on this route. We saw a bedraggled peacock and a large monitor lizard, everything else was hiding due to the rain! Despite the weather we decided to try and visit the Somawathiya Temple, apparently not many tourists go there as it was another hours drive from Polonnaruwa but as it was tanking down it was that or sit in the guesthouse so on we went. I was so glad we did! Sajith convinced the guards to let us park really close by instead of in the normal car park - this lad has the gift of the gab! So armed with the brolly we set off. The temple was the usual ... read more
Somawathiya Temple
Somawathiya Temple
Somawathiya Temple

Asia » Sri Lanka » North Central Province » Anuradhapura January 22nd 2017

We arrived at Colombo airport at some ridiculous hour made even more confusing by a 30 minute time difference. By the time we got through immigration, tracked down our bags on an unnamed carousel and queued for the only working atm we were pretty spaced out. The airport taxi counter was asking a ridiculous amount for the 2 mile trip to our hostel so we went out to look for an ordinary one. Then made the classic rookie mistake of being led away by some guy who had a taxi, we never do this normally but we're so tired we did. Actually it wasn't a total disaster we just had a fair distance to walk before we came to the car but after getting in and realising what we had done I spent the journey in ... read more
Mihintale Temple
Mihintale Temple
Mihintale Temple

Asia » Sri Lanka » North Central Province » Polonnaruwa January 11th 2017

We left Lake Lodge at about 9.30 am and set off to the old medieval capital of Ceylon. Polonnaruwa was declared the capital city of Ceylon by King Vijayabahu I. Polonnaruwa became the second capital city of the country in 993 after the destruction of Anuradhapura. Whilst driving along Basil told us about some of the history of Sri Lanka. For example that an old name for Sri Lanka was Serendip. The name comes from the Tamil word Ceralamdivu, which in Sanskrit is Simhaladvipa and in Persian Sarandīp. Parts of Sri Lanka were under the rule of Tamil kings for extended periods of time in history. Kings of Kerala, India (Cheranadu), were called Ceran Kings and divu, tivu or dheep, which means island. The island belonging to the Chera King was called Cherandeep, hence Sarandib by ... read more
Royal Palace in Polonnaruwa
Ancient Loo in Polonnaruwa
Kumara Pokuna - Twin bathing Pools

Asia » Sri Lanka » North Central Province » Anuradhapura December 30th 2016

Anuradhapura had been the capital of Sri Lanka from around 200BC to 1100 AD. It's legacy are the many Dagoba's that were built to house the earthly relics of Bhudda. some of these rivalled the Pyramids in Egypt in terms of height and wealth contained within them. We had a small disaster on our trip around the temples. At each stop we had to drop our shoes. Unfortunately someone with feet half a size smaller than Shelley's put on her pair and left a par of the same brand. They were a different colour and in much worse condition. One of our packing techniques to minimize the weight we have to carry is only take one pair of shoes. Hopefully the shoes that Shelley has inherited can hold up. My Keen's rock shoes also had a ... read more
Small dagoba
A new bhudda built in the last 20 years
Gold plated tree prop

Asia » Sri Lanka » North Central Province December 4th 2016

Geo: 8.45732, 80.5438४.१२.२०१६ आज जाफना हून निघून नैनातिउ या बेटावर जायचे होते. श्रीलंके मध्ये बरीच बेटे आहेत. बसने निघून कुरिकड्डूवान या ठिकाणी जावून तिथे बोट घेउन नैना... read more
Going to Nainativu
Going to Nainativu
Nainativu Jetty

Asia » Sri Lanka » North Central Province » Anuradhapura December 2nd 2016

Geo: 8.31481, 80.4149२.१२.२०१६ आज पहाटे ५.३० वाजता कोलंबो एअरपोर्ट वर उतरलो. टूर ज्यांनी आयोजित केली ते श्री साळुंके चेन्नै वरून निघून सकाळ १.५५ ला कोलंबो ला उतरणार होत... read more
Golden Temple, Dambulla
Golden Temple, Dambulla
Buddha Cave Temple

Asia » Sri Lanka » North Central Province » Polonnaruwa November 3rd 2016

Day 4 After a slightly frustrating evening stuggling with the Internet, we finally managed to post a blog, but we only had a later start, so we weren't in any rush. After breakfast, Indy met us at 9.30, brolly in hand, as it was trying to rain. As a precaution we had both rain jackets and the brolly (this is the London 2012 one that the waiters in King Coconut had tried to swop with me, as they had taken a great fancy to it)! Today was mostly going to be spent touring the ruined temples of Polonnaruwa, mostly Buddhist, but some Hindu. The first stop was to buy a ticket and look round the museum, which had some interesting artefacts in it, but rather oddly none of the text referenced the images that they had ... read more
Kings Palace
Indy outside the Kings bathing area
Council chamber

Asia » Sri Lanka » North Central Province » Anuradhapura March 23rd 2016

Here's some photos from my first stop in Sri Lanka, Anuradhapura. I rented a bike from my hotel to cycle round the ruins of the old town. They made me wear a hat to protect me from the sun which I presume a woman must have left there before. I don't have any pictures of myself with the bike and hat but I was basically riding round these old ruins looking like Mary Poppins. ... read more
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Asia » Sri Lanka » North Central Province » Polonnaruwa September 1st 2015

Heute ist Polonnaruwa geplant. Gestern haben wir einen Deal für das Taxi ausgehandelt. Polonnaruwa und die morgige Fahrt in das etwa 250km entfernte Arugam Bay für 24.000 LKR. Etwa eine Stunde Fahrt entfernt gehören die Tempelanlagen ebenfalls zum Weltkulturerbe. Wir wollten eigentlich sehr früh starten, aber die meisten Taxifahrer scheinen hier nicht früh aufzustehen. Frühstück um 7.30 Uhr, der obligatorische Small-Talk mit dem Hotelbesitzer und schon eine Stunde später sitzen wir im Taxi. Es gibt heute fast keine Wolken, das könnte ein heißer Tag werden. Vorbereiten kann man sich eigentlich nicht, eine Option wäre ein Regenschirm, der hier vor allem von Frauen benutzt wird, um die Sonne abzuhalten und nicht braun zu werden. Helle Haut ist hier das Schönheitsideal. Auch in Polonnaruwa werden wieder unglaubliche 8000 LKR Eintrittsgeld ($62) fällig. Wir besorgen uns die Tickets und ... read more
Terrasse der Zahnreliquie
Roter Punkt - bringt Glück
Buddhas von Gal Vihara 1

Asia » Sri Lanka » North Central Province » Polonnaruwa August 31st 2015

Ich stehe kurz nach 6 Uhr auf und mache einen kleinen Fotoausflug zum nahen See. In den Bäumen sitzen einige Schlangenreiher und eine Gruppe junggeselliger Pfaue. Einige Einheimische sind mit einem kleinen Boot zum Fisch unterwegs. Zum Frühstück bin ich zurück im Hotel, wir bleiben wohl die einzigen Gäste. Schade eigentlich, die Anlage und Zimmer sind recht schön. Heute ist lokales Frühstück angesagt, String-Hoppers (kleine Reisnudel Spaghetti-Häufchen), Hoppers (eine Art aus Reismehl gebackene Teigschüssel), mildes Kartoffelcurry und gebratene Eier. Hoppers kann man mit allem Möglichen kombinieren, vom warmen Curry bis zu Marmelade und Butter. Alles sehr schmackhaft. Nächster Versuch eines Kaffees, kein Erfolg. Um 9 Uhr sitzen wir im Tuk-Tuk nach Sigiriya. Sigiriya ist ein 200m hoher Felsmonolith auf dessen Gipfel sich die Reste einer ehemaligen Felsenfestung befinden. Der Name leitet s... read more
Sigiriya - Löwentreppe
Schwerer Aufstieg - 1200 Stufen
Oben




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